T. P. Wilson

Rev. Theodore Percival "Percy" Wilson (1819 – 8 August 1881), generally known as T. P. Wilson was an Anglican priest and author known for his pioneering, albeit brief, work in Adelaide, South Australia.

History

Wilson was born in England, a son of Thomas Wilson, solicitor and later mayor of Adelaide and his wife Martha Wilson, née Greenell (1790 – 29 January 1858), whose sister Mary Anne Greenell was the mother of Alfred Russel Wallace. His parents and his four younger siblings emigrated to South Australia aboard Duke of Roxburghe in 1838. Wilson completed his master's degree at Brasenose College, Oxford, and was ordained a priest of the Church of England.

He was sent out to Tasmania, where in 1845 he accepted a call to take over the newly built St John's Church, Adelaide, but instead returned to England on account of his wife's illness (but see reference below).[1]

He was sent out to South Australia by the barque Derwent, arriving in December, 1847 in company with the Augustus Short, Lord Bishop of Adelaide, and Dr. Hale. He was appointed first Head Master of St Peter's College, at that time held in a small room behind Trinity Church, and also acted as Bishop's Chaplain, and in 1849 incumbent of MacGill and Walkerville churches.[2]

The college moved to its current location in 1850, and in 1851 Wilson resigned over differences with the school's governors. He served for some 15 months as incumbent of St John's Church, then returned to England at the end of 1852. He was appointed curate of Bardsley in 1854,[3] and, at some unspecified date, "a living" near Shrewsbury.[4] His last posting was as vicar of Pavenham in Bedfordshire, where he died.[5]

Other interests
  • Wilson is known for at least one work of art, an historic sketch of the Hotel Brighton dated 5 November 1850, the day of his marriage.[6]
  • Wilson was a confirmed teetotaler and almost certainly preached on the subject. Back in England, he entered a competition hosted by the Band of Hope, who were looking for a popular novel to promote their cause. Wilson's entry, Frank Oldfield, set partly in England and partly in South Australia, won the £100 prize, and was published to some critical acclaim.[7]

Family

Wilson married Barbara Sophia Cameron (born 1818, the fifth daughter of the Rev. Charles Richard Cameron, Rector of Swaby, Lincolnshire) at Kensington, South Australia on 5 November 1850.[8] They had one daughter and five sons, Charles Thomas Wilson (born in Adelaide 14 October 1851) and Rev. Theodore Cameron Wilson (1857–1940) of Christ Church, Paignton among them.

The similarly named Theodore Augustus Greenell Wilson (1831 – 31 August 1908), a prize-winning student at Saint Peter's College 1848–1850[9][10] and State government official, was a younger brother. See Thomas Wilson for details of other siblings.

Theodore Percival Cameron Wilson (25 April 1888 - 23 March 1918), the "brilliant young school-teacher poet"[11] who was killed at the front in WWI, was a son of Theodore Cameron Wilson (above). His Magpies in Picardy was published posthumously by The Poetry Bookshop.[12]

References
  1. "St John's Church". South Australian Gazette And Colonial Register. I (1). South Australia. 5 July 1845. p. 3. Retrieved 22 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia. Details of activities in Tasmania, an earlier wife and family (unspecified) mentioned in this article have not been found, and may be entirely mistaken.
  2. "Weekly Intelligence". Adelaide Times. 1 (27). South Australia. 2 April 1849. p. 3. Retrieved 21 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "Ecclesiastical". Adelaide Observer. XII (584). South Australia. 2 September 1854. p. 8. Retrieved 21 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "St Peter's College Memories". The Register (Adelaide). XCI (26, 483). South Australia. 5 July 1926. p. 9. Retrieved 21 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "The Late Rev F. P. Wilson". Adelaide Observer. XXXVIII (2087). South Australia. 1 October 1881. p. 35. Retrieved 22 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. Hotel at Brighton, South Australia, 1850, retrieved 22 March 2019
  7. "Review". South Australian Register. XXXV (7495). South Australia. 21 November 1870. p. 5. Retrieved 21 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Family Notices". South Australian Register. XIV (1270). South Australia. 7 November 1850. p. 2. Retrieved 22 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. "Church of England Collegiate School". The South Australian. XI (1003). South Australia. 19 December 1848. p. 2. Retrieved 22 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. "St Peter's Collegiate School". South Australian Gazette and Mining Journal. V (335). South Australia. 22 June 1850. p. 3. Retrieved 22 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. "For This They Died". The South-western News. XXX (1525). Western Australia. 6 July 1934. p. 5. Retrieved 23 March 2019 – via National Library of Australia. a moving tribute
  12. "Magpies in Picardy". archive.org. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
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